Is the 308 dead?

[KenLee]

3 of the last 5 rifles I've bought are 308s. Have enough good hunting ammo to last myself and son for life.. I just prefer a 300wsm.

 

[North of 60]

Silly question to me.

The ammo is ubiquitous for factory ammo shooters.

That cartridge is good for most anything within 300 yds for most people with good bullets and further for those that ring steel at 600, 800, etc.

Makes for a very capable AR-10 cartridge. My suppressed 16" SFAR is one of my favorite short hunting range weapons.

 

[Big_wals]

I still have Dad's Win 88 lever 308. I should bust that out, put a decent scope on it and use it next season for a tag. Wonder if someone could rebarrel it so I can suppress it.

I have zero use for a .308, haven’t even shot anything with my 30-06 for six years….. but if I came across a good deal on an 88, I’d have a hard time not buying it. They’re some neat old guns.

 

[Sled]

I have 1 left in the safe for subs and ammo shortages. I don't use it for much though and it's a good backup. I don't think I'd be buying a new one anytime soon though. I really need to pars out the collection and decide what to keep for an investment, sentimental value and actual use.

 

[SDHNTR]

Ridiculous question. It’s alive and well and still a wonderful choice for nearly any and all NA game.

If I could only have one cartridge it would be top of the list.

 

[HuntHarder]

Dead.... Only reason to grab one over the newer cartridges is maybe ammo availability. Ballistically inferior to many newer, better cartridges. Boomers still love em'

 

[wpeach1912]

There’s no reason to buy a new one unless you’re trying to stock up a ton of ball ammo for the end of the world to run out of your gas gun. 6.5 creed replaces its use case. At my LGS last week there were 19 different 6.5 creed loadings and 18 308.

 

[TaperPin]

For 500 yards and under a 308 and 165 gr Partition holds up well enough and is quite usable. For western hunting I think it was popular in the 50s and 60s, and fell out of favor in the 70s and 80s prior to inexpensive range finders, but its trajectory is hardly worth worrying about now. It’s not “modern” enough for those who buy into needing the latest greatest, but it’s not far behind the 30-06 in usefulness. Good, efficient, reliable, simple.

I have a thin pencil barrel that makes it a great mountain gun, or quick handling timber rifle. I also ended up with a nice custom bull barrel that makes a great plinking gun. Brass is cheap/free, you can’t hardly shoot the throat out, and it’s a rock killing and plate swinging mo fo.

 

[RockAndSage]

IIRC, .308 is always in the top 5 - based on both ammo sales, and rifle sales.

As someone else pointed out, it was also the first ammo to come back to store shelves as shortages eased up, and has an incredible variety of loadings. Definitely not dead.